The
raison d’etre for this Project is encapsulated in the concept of enhancing
tourism and in the particular context of Lantau of “getting back to nature” and
is in keeping with the theme of Sustainable Tourism as documented in the
Environmentally Sustainable Development Strategy for Hong Kong’s Travel and
Tourism Industry.

Tourists
and residents alike will leave behind a bustling vibrant urban environment
within the airport and its support community and will be conveyed to the
tranquil and classical environs of the Ngong Ping area resplendent with the
Giant Buddha and associated monasteries and facilities. The Tung Chung Cable
Car Project has been considered for several years and many studies have been
conducted, consultations held and data gathered to support the construction of
the Project which comprises:

·construction of a cable car system of
about 5.7km long between Tung Chung and Ngong Ping;

·construction of associated towers and
other supporting structures;

·construction of two termini, one at
Tung Chung and the other at Ngong Ping; and

·construction of angle station(s) and
other associated infrastructure.

The
Study Brief issued by the Environmental Protection Department (EPD)
(ESB-068/2001) for the “Tung Chung to Ngong Ping Cable Car Project” hereafter
called the “Project” contains a “preliminary preferred alignment” and
highlights indicative locations for the Tung Chung and Ngong Ping Termini and
an Airport Intermediate Terminal. The alignment is illustrated in Figure E.1. It should be noted that
during the course of the current Study the Mass Transit Railway Corporation
Limited (MTRC) confirmed that there is no proposal to use the Airport Angle
Station for setting down or picking up passengers (as had previously been
conceived). This means that the Angle Station at the Airport Island will only
be used for turning, to house the mechanical drives, for maintenance and
systems control. The fact that no passengers will embark/disembark at the
Airport Angle Station significantly reduces the potential risks (associated
with numbers of people in the proximity of the airport fuel tank farm)
associated with the operation of the cable car system.

The
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been undertaken in accordance with
the Study Brief and has drawn conclusions pertaining to the construction and
operation of the project from the detailed assessments carried out in
accordance with the Technical Memorandum to the EIA Ordinance.

As
part of the ongoing development of the Project, there have been many
discussions with the designers and operators of similar systems elsewhere in
the Region and much advice has been provided in terms of practical solutions to
working within environmental constraints of the Water Gathering Ground and the
Country Park (and its future extensions) as well as the engineering constraints
relating to terrain and access.
Specific issues discussed have included methods of working within the
Country Park through the use of helicopters or a material ropeway, the use of
prefabricated materials as far as practical (with assembly on site especially
for the towers within the Country Park), the measures needed to protect the
ecological, landscape and visual resources (during and following construction)
principles of reinstatement of conditions (as soon as possible after
construction) and the protection of the Water Gathering Grounds.

Consultations
have also been held with key Green Groups (Conservancy Association, Green
Lantau Association, Friends of the Earth, Kadoorie Farm and Worldwide Fund for
Nature) and relevant Government Departments especially in connection with the
development of the emergency rescue trail, the tower locations, the alignment
and the termini locations. All parties
have been provided with working papers and the draft EIA and their comments
taken on board throughout the Study.
The feedback from these parties and the Country and Marine Parks Boards
(since 1999) has allowed a more robust assessment to be undertaken. In particular, consideration has been given
to developing of workable solutions and methods for working within the Country
Park while upholding principles of conservation and ecological protection. To
this end various guiding principles have been developed and transposed into
working principles for the construction and operation of the cable car. These
include but are not limited to the development of a code of practice
specifically for work within the Country Park and a nature conservation policy
specifically for the implementation of this Project.

Throughout
the development of the project various alignments and terminal locations have
been considered. At the Country and Marine Parks Board meeting on 23rd
January 2003 and no objections were raised on the Cable Car alignment or tower
locations. The route, referred to as Alignment 7 was favoured for a variety of
reasons including the protection of ecology and environmental resources. Alignment 7 was therefore used as the basis
for the impact assessment and its acceptability verified throughout the EIAO
process. The conclusions of the individual assessments, which have been carried
out in accordance with the Study Brief, are given in the following paragraphs.

Provision
of an emergency rescue trail is required as part of the overall rescue system.
The final details of the emergency rescue trail have yet to be finalised
(between MTRC, FSD and EMSD). But in
order to assess the worst case situation, the assumption in the EIA was that an
emergency rescue trail of not more than 1.5m wide would be located beneath the
cableway (1.5m is the width of the trail at Ocean Park). If wider trail is needed then a variation to
the permit will be sought. The
emergency rescue trail will be formed generally using natural materials to
provide a proper and safe route for transportation of passengers in emergency
situations. The trail will also serve
as the maintenance access for the cable car system and possibly as a hiking
trail for the Country Park. In
addition, the trail may also contain power and communication cables which are
needed to maintain safe operations.

Only
one trail will ultimately be formed in the Country Park, and so in some places
the existing Country Park trail will be upgraded as part of the emergency
rescue trail (with steps in gradient greater than 1 in 4 again using ready
formed blocks to provide safe passage in those steep areas) from Tower 3 towards
Tung Chung. It must be stressed that while the principle of only using natural
materials in the formation of the rescue trail is the design presumption,
passengers in the cabins will not necessarily be equipped for hiking and so
safety is fundamental.

Although,
the proposed emergency rescue trail will traverse a significant length of the
cableway, it is particularly necessary at locations where the height of the
ropeway is not more than 60m in height, these are:

·between Tower 3 and Tower 6 including
sections with steps (in areas where the gradient is greater than 1 in 4). For
these short sections of the rescue route the steps will be constructed using
ready formed blocks (e.g. wooden, recycled plastic or expanded metal walkways.)
to provide safe passage in the short steep sections; and

·between Tower 7 and Ngong Ping Terminal.

In
order to convey passengers who have been rescued from the system (in the event
of failure) helicopter touch down points will be needed, where the passengers
cannot safely walk for help. Six
potential touch down points have been identified from which three will be
selected. All are on grassland (with a
few scattered low shrubs) at strategic locations on ridgelines that provide a
suitable landing surface. There will be no concrete required at these touch
down points. Three touch down points
have been selected and the ecological impacts on these sites have been
identified through site visits and are considered to be minor.

Construction
methods for the Cable Car terminals will follow standard practices and will
include excavation, foundations, superstructure, cladding and finishing. The Tung Chung terminal will be a signature
building reflecting the modern architecture of the airport and the New Town,
while at Ngong Ping the style will be in keeping with the monasteries and
Buddhist community and will be relatively simple.

Angle Stations

At
the angle station the housing is expected to be of light steel structure (due to constraints on the import of materials to
the Country Park (for the Nei Lak Shan angle station) and the need to blend in
as far as possible with the surroundings.
At the Angle station at the airport island there will also be a maintenance
building (two to three storeys high) which will be designed to blend into the
surroundings.

Towers

The
towers will essentially be constructed using prefabricated sections for the
tower itself, which will be founded on raft type foundations or small pad
foundations. As all materials will need to be imported to site either by hand
carry or by helicopter (or material ropeway) the use of as much off-site
prefabrication as possible is assumed. This has added environmental benefits of
minimising wastes generation and offsite disposal, reducing potential for
spillages or dispersal of materials on site.

Emergency Rescue Trail

The
emergency rescue trail could be constructed by use of small handheld tools to
clear the vegetation and to provide a narrow shallow trench for the laying of
systems (fibre optic) cables. The trench will immediately be backfilled and
reinstated to minimise any visual impacts. The design of the trail will
generally follow the principles developed by the New South Wales National Park
Service (1985) Walking Track Construction
Guidelines: A guide to the construction and maintenance of walking trails
and those adopted in Hong Kong Country Parks.

Construction using
Helicopters and a Material Ropeway

Due
to the fact that the majority of the ‘Preferred Alignment’ i.e. Alignment 7 is
located within a mountainous area, a large portion of which being within the
Lantau North Country Park construction of the towers and angle station is
deemed to be only feasible by means of helicopters.

The
number and type of helicopters selected for construction works will depend on
the structural forms of the towers, i.e., steel or concrete, weight lifting
capacities required and weather conditions experienced and the successful
contractors proposal. Transportation to
the angle station will also involve the lifting of motors, gearboxes and drive
wheels irrespective of the cable car system adopted. This would require these units to be broken down into smaller
components and reassembled on site (which may prove difficult and be
unacceptable), or alternatively a larger lifting capacity helicopter would be
used for this operation.

An
alternative means of conveying materials to and from site is to use a material
ropeway. The system would need to convey loads of around 8 tons; the systems
suppliers have made a suggestion that such a system would be feasible if
constructed in parallel to the preferred Alignment. The distance between the
two systems would be of the order of 20m. The temporary material ropeway would
be supported by a series of “towers” which would be used to convey the track
rope. The “towers” would be temporarily anchored into natural soil or rock.
Around 19 temporary towers would be required, and helicopters would be needed
for delivery to the temporary tower locations.

Assessments
carried out for both construction methods which focus particularly on the
ecological impacts (specifically habitat removal and further disturbance) and
noise impacts associated with the provision of a second (albeit temporary)
ropeway. The helicopter construction method has been assessed to have lower
environmental impacts (particularly ecological) and the MTRC believes that,
while technically feasible, the materials ropeway is not beneficial to working
to the high standards required in the Country Park.

Construction
of the proposed cable car system may cause short-term air quality impacts on
the surrounding air sensitive land uses at the terminal stations, the tower
sites and the proposed emergency rescue trails along the route. However, it is
expected that the dust generated from the construction works of tower and angle
stations; the excavation and laying of utilities in the emergency rescue trails
to maintain safe operations would be of small scale, localised and short-term. In addition to this, no ASRs have been
identified within 500m distance from the boundary of the works area for these
construction works.

Potential
cumulative dust impacts could be related to the concurrent construction
activities associated with the planned development in the vicinity of the
Project including the proposed Sewage Treatment Works and Sewerage, and Cable
Car associated Theme Village at Ngong Ping.

The
predicted 1-hour and 24-hour TSP levels at the ASRs will comply with the dust
acceptable criteria of 500 mgm-3 and 260 mgm-3 respectively
during earthworks and termini construction except ASRs 1 and 2 at Ngong Ping
and ASRs 9, 13 and 14 at Tung Chung due to in close proximity to the works site
(refer to Figure E.2and Figure
E.3). The cumulative dust impacts predicted at ASRs 1, 2, 9, 13 and 14
indicate maximum hourly dust levels of 1593 mgm-3, 713 mgm-3, 1237 mgm-3, 1696 mgm-3 and 1849 mgm-3 and maximum
daily dust levels of 725 mgm-3, 346 mgm-3, 573 mgm-3, 771 mgm-3 and 837 mgm-3, which would
exceed the recommended hourly TSP guideline level of 500 mgm-3 by 219%,
43%, 147%, 239% and 270%, and daily TSP guideline level of 260mgm-3, by 179%,
33%, 120%, 197% and 222% respectively.

Dust
suppression measures are therefore recommended to reduce emissions from the
site to ensure the criteria would not be exceeded. The predicted results show
that with the inclusion of mitigation measures dust levels at all ASRs will
comply with both the hourly and daily dust criteria.

From
the assessments conducted it has been concluded that dust mitigation measure
are necessary to protect sensitive receivers from the effects of fugitive dust
emissions during construction of the termini. The provision of standard
measures such as hoardings, use of tarpaulins over stockpiles etc. will be
sufficient to reduce dust to an acceptable level.

The
main construction activities comprise construction site formation, excavation,
construction of foundations and superstructure. Construction activities for the Cable Car project are expected to
be undertaken during normal daytime working hours (i.e. 0700 to 1900 hours on
any day not being a Sunday or public holiday) although some works at the Tung
Chung Terminal could take place over a longer period of time (e.g. 0700 - 2300
for steel fixing/form work etc.).
According to the programme given in the EIA for the construction of Ngong
Ping Sewage Treatment Work (STW) construction works are likely to overlap with
Cable Car project to match the opening date.

A
plant inventory consisting of the Cable Car project and Ngong Ping STW (based
on Table 4.8 of Section 4 of approved EIA report under Register No.
EIA-079/2002 “Ngong Ping Sewage Treatment Work and Sewerage”) has been
established. Due to the remote nature of work sites for the tower locations,
helicopters could be used to transport construction materials to the tower
sites.

The
most seriously affected area is village house-Kam Wai Yuen in Ngong Ping Area
(at NSR1a) and Tung Chung Crescent-Block 7 (Flat A) in the Tung Chung Area (at
NSR4) where unmitigated noise levels of up to 78 dB(A) and 85 dB(A) are
predicted when the construction of Ngong Ping Terminal, Tower 7 and Ngong Pong
STW as well as Tung Chung Terminal and Airport Angle Station overlap (refer to Figure E.4).

Not
unexpectedly, the construction of the two terminals will result in elevated
noise levels. Although the use of helicopters may generate short term noise
impacts upon take-off or landing the impacts predicted will still be acceptable
at the closest receivers of the proposed touch down point sites. Other
construction impacts can be mitigated and will be within the acceptable noise
levels, assuming standard mitigation is effected.

Once
the system is operational, the noise impacts will be confined to those
associated with the mechanical equipment at the termini and angle stations.
With mitigation full compliance with the standards will be achieved.

The
Cable Car Project does not require the diversion of any streams, however the
Project will provide restitution of a stream at the Ngong Ping terminal
location. The assessments has confirmed
that the minimal impact on water quality and indeed the assessment demonstrated
that there are benefits to be accrued such as the restitution of the stream
course using soft bank side materials on the boundary of the Terminal site at
Ngong Ping and the potential re-use of treated effluent from the Ngong Ping
Sewage Treatment Works.

By
implementation of mitigation measures and adherence to the practice notes and
codes of practice for work within the Country Park and Water Gathering Grounds,
the water quality impacts are deemed to be acceptable. Inspections of the work
sites and the stream courses as part of the routine auditing of the works is
expected to be adequate for the protection of the water resources. However in
the event of spillages or accidental discharges the emergency control plan
would need to be implemented and checked for effectiveness.

Water
Quality Objectives for re-use of effluent at Ngong Ping for flushing and
irrigation have been recommended along with mitigation measures and are
included in Section 5 of the EIA for use on this Project.

Wastes
arising from the construction of the Project will be effectively handled,
transported and disposed of according to the waste management strategies
including the Environmental Code of Practice which has been developed for this
Project. Management strategies have focussed on the minimisation of waste
generation through re-use on site as far as practical. The estimated types and
volumes of waste generated have been identified are excavation, vegetation and
a small amount of other construction wastes such as municipal wastes and
construction materials (wrappings, plastics etc.). The excavated materials and
vegetation will be reused where possible on site (i.e. landscaping),
particularly for the construction of the towers within the Country Park. The Contractor will be also required to
develop a specific waste management plan for his works.

The
following sites were identified as possible locations for disposal of excavated
materials, construction and demolition waste & materials, chemical waste in
conjunction with the construction programme of the proposed works:

·the public filling area at Tung Chung
Development Phase 3A;

·the public fill stockpiling area at
Mui Wo;

·the landfill site WENT in West New
Territories;

·Chemical Waste Treatment Centre (CWTC)
at Tsing Yi; and

·material that is not acceptable at the
CWTC (such as spent batteries) can be sent to a co-disposal landfill such as
the SENT Landfill.

During
the operational phase wastes will include wastewater from domestic effluent and
maintenance oils/ lubricants etc. and general domestic wastes (lunch boxes
paper etc.). Provided appropriate measures are undertaken to reduce waste
arisings and to control wastes to acceptable levels, no significant impacts are
expected.

Detailed
ecological baseline surveys have been conducted and the results added to the
extensive database of habitat conditions in this area. The alignment and tower
and angle station locations have been selected in areas of low ecological
value. The total area anticipated to be temporarily disturbed by the towers and
the angle station locations is approximately 4 hectares. Ecological issues are
not a key concern at either terminal location vis-à-vis the construction phase
as these are both located in areas of low ecological potential.

The
major impacts considered are the loss of woodland and tall shrub habitat,
potential disturbance to significant flora species and temporary disturbance to
significant fauna species. A summary of the vegetation disturbed at all
construction areas is outlined in the table below and in Figure E.5.

*: Indicates the approximate length of the stream
that will be disturbed

The values provided in this table are based on the
tower base size, terminal location, Angle stations and their respective
anticipated construction area. The figures listed are provided as an
approximate indication of the potential habitat loss. The areas have been
calculated from the proposed construction areas while the Emergency Rescue
Trail has been calculated from Figure 7.3.

Source: Information adapted from MTRC Land Use Map
and Figure E.5.

Mitigation
measures including compensation planting of approximately 2 hectares of
woodland vegetation to compensate for the 0.25ha loss of tall shrub and
woodland habitats (and approximately 2.96 total loss of habitat not including
developed areas). It is considered that with appropriate construction practices
(fencing off areas, restriction of construction areas, use of portable toilets
etc.) impacts will be minimised. By implementation of mitigation measures and
adherence to the practice notes and codes of practice for work within the
Country Park, the ecological impacts are deemed to be acceptable.

Landscape
impacts resulting from the cable car development will comprise two main types.
The first type is the physical impact on existing vegetation. That is, during construction relatively
small and discrete areas of hillside grass and shrub vegetation will be cleared
in the course of installing towers 3 to 7, the upland angle station, the
emergency rescue trail and Ngong Ping Terminal. In addition, a small area of amenity roadside planting by towers
1 and 2B will be disturbed. The majority
of the disturbed vegetation will be reinstated upon completion by replanting below
the towers and compensatory planting to the periphery of the terminal buildings
and emergency trail. The alignment
avoids areas of mature trees and fung shui features.

The
second type of landscape impact is the intrusion of the cable car as a man-made
element into the more natural landscape character of the Lantau hills. This represents the key source of both
landscape and visual impacts. As with
cable cars throughout the world the towers, cables and gondolas of the system
are visible features in the landscape.
By necessity cable cars are aligned on high ground spanning between
hilltops and cannot be concealed.

Summary of Cable Car
Structures

Structure

Approximate
Land Requirement (for construction)

Approximate
Dimensions

Tung Chung Terminus

(Refer to Figures 8.8 and 8.9 for illustrations of
building)

17,270m2

30m high

Tower No. 1

1,225m2

40m high

Tower No. 2A

1,225m2

40m high

Airport Angle Station

(Refer to Figure 8.10 for illustration of angle
station)

7,232m2

34m high

Tower No. 2B

1,225m2

51m high

Tower No. 3

(Refer to Figure 8.11 for illustration of typical
trail steps)

1,225m2

16m high

Tower No. 4

(Refer to Figure 8.12 for illustration of typical
cable tower)

1,225m2

45m high

Tower No. 5

1,225m2

45m high

Upland Angle Station (Refer to Figure 8.13)

4,617m2

15m high

Tower No. 6

1,225m2

28m high

Tower No. 7

1,225m2

47m high

Ngong Ping Terminus (Refer to Figures 8.2 and 8.14)

3,844m2

12m high

In
the urban area around the Tung Chung Terminal and Airport Island Angle Station
the relative landscape and visual impacts are reduced due to the background
view of the more visually intrusive airport island and the general noise,
movement and mass of the road and railway infrastructure. Indeed, at Tung Chung the proposed site is
undeveloped and used temporarily for bus parking. The terminal building would actually enhance the landscape and
visual amenity of this site. At Ngong
Ping, the terminal location has been selected to one side of the settlement in
a relatively unobtrusive area. With
sensitive design it will not detract from the special landscape character and
ambience of the Buddha and Monastery or intrude on any key views.

The
most remote portion of the cable car route is in the mid-section, at Towers 5
and 6 and the upland Angle Station.
This is where the contrast between the man-made structures and the open
hillside is most obvious, particularly the Angle Station, when viewed from the
summit of Nei Lak Shan. The scale of
the Angle Station structure has been reduced to the absolute minimum required
to achieve its necessary function.
Nevertheless, the resulting form will comprise an elevated open-sided
deck with a lightweight steel weatherproof canopy to protect the turning gear. The potential visual intrusion of the Angle
Station merits an innovative landscape design solution. Accordingly, it is proposed that the roof
panels of the structure be interchangeable.
This would allow panels with green tones to be installed in summer to
match the backdrop of lush green vegetation and panels with ochre tones to be
installed in winter to match the browner vegetation of the dry season. This ‘chameleon’ colour concept will help to
blend the structure more subtly with the surrounding hillside.

The
landscape and visual impact assessment has attempted to achieve as balanced a
perspective as possible of the proposed development. Regarding the mid-section
of the cable car in the upland area it has been noted that in addition to the
above design guidelines there are a number of mitigating factors which help
reduce the significance of landscape and visual impacts in this sensitive
area.

·This location is not readily visible
from either Tung Chung or Ngong Ping where the majority of VSRs are located.

·Hill walkers climbing Nei Lak Shan
will see the existing radio mast, ancillary buildings and security fencing on
the summit in the immediate foreground all of which are arguably more visually
intrusive than the cable car.

·The trail to Nei Lak Shan is neither
sign posted nor one of the popular footpaths in the area. Hikers have better alternative paths
including the Lantau Trail and views to more spectacular mountains to the east
which are not affected by the cable car development.

Although
the cable car cannot be concealed from view, the route selected has minimised
the number of sensitive receivers overall.
In addition, the adopted bi-cable system uses only a small number of
towers. These fundamental design
decisions will greatly reduce the landscape and visual impacts of the entire
system and keep the development as ‘lightweight’ as possible. The approximate net loss of landscape
resources as a result of the various features of the cable car development are
summarised in Section E.11 above.

The
cultural heritage assessment has taken account of all potential resources which
could be impacted by the Project, including graves and fung shui elements. The
assessments have been conducted in accordance with the requirements of the
Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO) and have concluded that no adverse
impacts would result, and that no mitigation or monitoring is required during
the construction or operation of the Project.
Indeed the resources of cultural heritage will be beneficial in terms of
the tourism potential and increasing visitors to the Country Parks.

Various
scenarios have been considered in connection with the risks associated with the
proximity of the tank farm to the alignment of the Cable Car System. The scenarios include consideration of tank
fire, inner bund fire, outer bund fire, ditch fire and pool fire on the
sea. The individual and societal risks
to cable car workers and passengers have been assessed and shown to be
acceptable when compared with the Technical Memorandum of the EIAO (Annex 4).

Environmental
monitoring and audit procedures have been identified for the specific
confirmation of the mitigation and protection measures proposed with emphasis
being placed on ecology and habitat protection. Routine monitoring is also
recommended for confirming the mitigation measures are being implemented
correctly and as effectively as predicted.

The EIA has been completed in accordance
with the requirements of the EPD Study Brief No. ESB-068/2001. An alignment
between Tung Chung and Ngong Ping has been proposed which has least impact on
the Country Park (and its future extension) environment while still allowing
the safe construction of the towers to progress. In keeping with the basic tenets
of the MTR’s Environmental Policy the Cable Car System has been designed to
minimise environmental and ecological impacts, reduce energy consumption and
minimise landscape and visual impacts.

The EIA has surmised that provided the
recommended mitigation measures are implemented, there will be no significant
impacts of the construction or operation of the cable car on the Lantau North
Country Park or at the termini locations at Tung Chung and Ngong Ping. Assuming
the mitigation proposed within this EIA the cable car can be constructed and
operated within acceptable standards.

Early discussions have been held with
interested parties and relevant Government Departments to consider the views
and opinions on the terminal locations, the alignment, the form of the towers
and the emergency rescue trail. The feedback has been used in the assessment of
the Project and has allowed design principles to be developed and avoidance of
conflicts where possible.

To assist implementation of the
overarching environmental policies stated by the MTR various recommendations
have been made including a Nature Conservation Policy, which has been derived
specifically for this Project.